Watch Brad Stevens' heartfelt reaction to Boston letter from Isaiah Thomas

Boston fans weren't the only ones who had an emotional reaction to a heartfelt letter from Isaiah Thomas on Wednesday.

Brad Stevens read the letter himself before speaking with a small group of media at the ABCD Hoops Dreams fundraiser at the TD Garden on Wednesday evening and admitted it was a touching experience for him as well.

"I love IT," Stevens said. "When you make moves, obviously there’s a cost for every move. But obviously there’s a huge emotional cost, right? I read that like a guy who had been in the locker room with him everyday for the last 2 ½ years and flown on the planes. I thoroughly enjoyed him, learned a lot from him. And so enjoyed watching his ascent. It was emotional. I think I was reading it as much as like an 11-year-old kid would more than a coach, per se. It’s really an emotional thing. I wish him nothing but the best. I couldn't have more respect for anybody."



Brad Stevens on Isaiah's Letter from Boston Sports Journal on Vimeo.

Stevens also touched on the challenges of losing players so frequently in the NBA.

"That’s the real side of it," he explained. "Luckily that -- you have to just kinda focus on what your task is. That doesn’t change regardless of what your emotions are and my job is to coach our team. I used to joke that, my first couple years, Danny would send me an email at the end of every week with who is on the team. And then this summer we changed quite a bit as well. I could not respect, again, IT and the other guys that left here more. Now we turn the page and we have to get ready with this team to play as well as we can."



Brad Stevens on challenges of losing guys in NBA from Boston Sports Journal on Vimeo.

Doc Rivers also chimed in on Boston's moves and the toughest trade he ever had to make as a member of the Celtics.

"Yeah, Kendrick Perkins," Rivers admitted. "That was as emotional as anything I've ever had to go through. When you are trading a guy and you are literally sitting in the room with him and tears are coming out of your eyes, and then you go into the locker room and players are crying as well, that's hard. It's part of the business, but it also says a lot about this city too. A lot of the places players play. I think here, you play and get a connection. That doesn't happen everywhere, I can tell you that. I've been a lot of places. You get that here, especially when you have some success."



Doc Rivers on Isaiahs letter from Boston Sports Journal on Vimeo.